Organists of Old First | 3: Henry E. H. Benedict (1895-1903)

After the departure of Old First’s second organist, Cuban patriot and revolutionary Rafael Navarro, Old First employed Henry E. H. Benedict for eight years. Benedict’s story also ended as front page news. This is the fourth part of an ongoing series.

The third organist at Old First was Henry E. H. Benedict. Born in Canada in 1859, he was named Henry (or Harry) Emerson Benedict, origin of second H. in H. E. H., unknown. Benedict studied music and piano at the Royal Conservatory in ­Leipzig, Saxony. After undertaking genealogical research on his parents and siblings, I was able to learn that the family came to Brooklyn as early as 1873; this must be the point after which Henry studied in Leipzig. He was the only musician I found in his family of accountants, business and salesmen.

Early years as a Musician

Academy of Music concert 1879, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Henry E. Benedict, musician, is listed in the Brooklyn Directory as early as 1879 in Bedford Stuyvesant, at 20 years of age – which indicates he may have returned from studies the previous year in order to have made the listing. In April of 1879, H. E. H. Benedict played in a concert at the original Brooklyn Academy of Music.

From the early 1880s through the early 1900s, H. E. H. Benedict is frequently listed as pianist or organist; Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Church of the Redeemer on Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street, Reformed Church on the Heights, Flatlands Reformed Church, Twelfth Street Reformed Church, St. John’s M. E. Church, churches in Bedford Stuyvesant, the list goes on. The Prospect Heights Choral Society was under his direction and performed at the First Reformed Church for many years, seemingly a continuous part of his career.

17 Lefferts Place, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

In the midst of this success, Benedict’s story took its first tragic twist. In 1883 he married Maria Olivia Jordan, who died around 1892, leaving him with a young son, Sydney Jordan Benedict. The 1888 Brooklyn directory listed his residence as 140 Dean Street in what is now known as Boerum Hill. By 1900 Benedict had moved back to Bedford Stuyvesant with his son, to 17 Lefferts Place, the same neighborhood with which he was familiar from his earlier years. Benedict opened a music school at this location, and thereafter was often referred to as Professor Benedict, teaching for 25 years. He kept up his career as a performer and began directing music.

Benedict comes to Old First

Announcing H. E. H. Benedict, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

In 1895 he was chosen to replace Navarro at Old First. Again, many of his concerts and church services were listed or advertised in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. If you would like to browse the Easter music that was played in 1898, open Daily Eagle article here. An aside, 1899 is first time I see “Old” First Reformed Church, not just First Reformed, in print. This was to differentiate our congregation from at least one other in Brooklyn also using the name First Reformed Church; both names would be used interchangeably over the next several decades until we finally settled on Old First.

In 1903, Benedict received an offer from a church in Chicago, as reported in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, although he apparently did not take the position. I have not found any 1903 listings in the Eagle for Henry E. H. Benedict as organist at Old First, and there are several articles placing William G. Hammond at Old First, beginning in the spring of 1903. In February of 1909, the Eagle wrote of Benedict as organist and director at the Twelfth Street Reformed Church in Brooklyn. An article in The New York Times, August 1909, stated that Benedict had “recently” left the First Reformed Church but this is an error, unless he were filling in for Hammond, who took a sabbatical to Europe; or The Times informant misspoke.

After Old First…and an eerie finale

825 President Street today. Photo: Jane Barber

Benedict was remarried in November of 1908 to Laura G. Ford, an Englishwoman, who owned a brownstone at 825 President Street, just steps from Old First, which she ran as a boarding house. Henry continued giving music lessons at this new location, which brings us to this strange ending of his story.

Professor Benedict was not well, for in early July of 1909, he had surgery at the new Jewish Hospital in Prospect Heights. He was released on August 7th when he came home, packed his bags and left, apparently to rooms in the St. George Hotel. A few days later his wife was found in her home where all of the windows and doors had been left open for several days; neighbors finally entered the house and discovered her predicament. She was semi-conscious and lying under the bed with just her feet sticking out. She had not eaten for days and her memory was gone. Benedict was nowhere to be found; someone reported observing him leave the hotel with a suitcase accompanied by a young man, possibly his son? About ten days later he returned home to a media frenzy. His story was that he had run from his wife because she had become violent and had threatened him with a knife in a jealous rage. He, being frightened and not fully recovered, had traveled to Cincinnati to stay with his mother Anne and brother Fillis’ family; he asserted that he did not know about his wife’s recent dilemma until reading of it in the news. It was determined that Mrs. Benedict suffered from dementia and she was admitted to a Brooklyn institution. The story was carried by all of the national newspapers, surely much to Benedict’s distress. It is not clear if he were able to keep any of his church organist jobs. In 1910 he was back in residence with his wife at 825 President Street, teaching music. Sometime before 1913 Henry’s son Sidney moved to Portland, Oregon, where his two uncles Charles and Fillis along with his grandmother, had relocated from Brooklyn (via Cincinnati) but Henry did not go. In 1915 H. E. H. Benedict had a music business in Dover, New Jersey (which was still listed in 1917) however, Henry’s death notice appeared before that in The New York Times, he died at home in Dover on October 11, 1915. He was 56 years old.

In spite of this rather tragic ending to Benedict’s story, we remember and celebrate his gifts to Old First and to the music world of Brooklyn – as a musician, director, and teacher.

. . .

The story of William G. Hammond, next organist and famed composer, is posted here.

Our church historian, Jane Barber, has compiled a comprehensive history of our amazing organ, and the people who have played it.

(read Part 1 here)  Organists of Old First | Intro: A History
(read Part 2 here)  Organists of Old First | 1: Harris Cornell Meserole
(read Part 3 here)  Organists of Old First | 2: Rafael Navarro